


Comfort

by meinterrupted



Category: Firefly
Genre: F/F, Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2005-11-30
Updated: 2005-11-30
Packaged: 2019-04-29 08:02:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14468409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meinterrupted/pseuds/meinterrupted
Summary: Sometimes, late at night, River dances.





	Comfort

**Author's Note:**

> Note from alice ttlg, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Firefly’s Glow](https://fanlore.org/wiki/Firefly%27s_Glow), and was moved to the AO3 as part of the Open Doors project in 2018. I tried to reach out to all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are the creator and would like to claim this work, please contact me using the e-mail address on [Firefly's Glow collection profile](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/fireflysglow/profile).
> 
>  **Author's notes:** Short drabble set post Big Damn Movie. Major spoilers for the movie.

  
Author's notes: Short drabble set post Big Damn Movie. Major spoilers for the movie.  


* * *

Comfort

## Comfort

Sometimes, late at night, River dances. She floats along the hallways, turning and bending, leaping and whirling. It's unconscious, this dancing, moving to the music in her head, memories of lessons and performances suppressed by the Alliance. 

Most of the time, she dances to avoid sleeping. The nightmares of men with blue hands, classrooms in her brain, scalpels and betrayal are too much for her to take. So, she dances, trying to reclaim the childhood that was stolen from her. 

Late one night, she dances past Zoe's door. Lost in her own world, she doesn't even hear the other woman's thoughts until she's three feet past the door. When she does, she stops mid-plie. Cocking her head to the side, she backs up, slowly, then leans into the door, listening with her ears and her mind. 

She hears the other woman's anguish, the pain she keeps hidden so well during the day: sounds of crying and thoughts of love lost. "Ain't nothin' in the 'verse gonna make it better," she whispers, echoing the heartbreak emanating from the room. River knows she shouldn't open the hatch, shouldn't climb down that ladder, but she does it anyway. 

Bare feet making no sound on the metal rungs, she lowers herself into the room. She pads quietly toward the bed. Zoe is so enveloped in her grief, she doesn't even notice the girl until River's small arms wrap around her. "Shhh," she murmurs into the woman's ear, calming her fears as she starts. "You have to cry. If you don't, you'll break." Broken like me. The last words hover, unsaid between them, as Zoe cries out her pain, her loss. River holds her, as a mother holds a child, stroking her hair, murmuring comforting nothings, until Zoe falls blissfully asleep. Curled up around the older woman, River too drifts off, dreamless. 

It becomes a habit. When the nightmares become too much, River takes comfort in comforting Zoe. Eventually, the nightmares dim, and Zoe's grief lessens. But in the middle of the night, River still finds herself dancing to Zoe's bed.

* * *

 

 

 

 

 

 

Title:   **Comfort**   
Author:   **Kari**   [website]   
Details:   **Standalone**  |  **PG**  |  ***slash***  |  **1k**  |  **11/30/05**   
Characters:  Zoe, River   
Pairings:  River/Zoe   
Summary:  Sometimes, late at night, River dances.   
Notes:  Short drabble set post Big Damn Movie. Major spoilers for the movie.   
  



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